Artificial hand and arm



L. G. CARON.

ARTIFICIAL HAND AND ARM. APPLICATION FILED- MAR. 2e. 191.9.

Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

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ARTlFlClAL HAND AND ARM.

APPLICATION HLED MAR. 26, 1919. 1,?32,,4:85. Patented Mar. 2, 920.

1 2 sHEUs- SHEET 2.

UNITE STAES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS G. GABON, OF VIASEINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TOUNIVERSAL ARTIFICIAL LIIVIB &, SUPPLY (30., I1\TC., OF

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, A

CORPORATION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Application filed March 26, 1819.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LOUIS Gr. CARON, acitizen of the United States of America, and a resident of WVashington,in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Artificial Hands and Arms, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to artificial members for use in cases where thenatural arm has been removed either above or below the elbow and theobject of the invention is to improve the artificial hand and arm shownin myUnited States Patent No. 1,272,006, granted July 9, 1918.

The present invention is much simpler than that shown in my aforesaidpatent, and the preferable embodiment of it is shown in the accompanyingdrawings and will now be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part hereof:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a hand made in accordance with myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the arm member forming acontinuation of the part shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an arm and hand made in accordance withmy invention.

Fig. thereof.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a modification.

Referring now to the details of the drawings by numerals: 1 (Fig. 3) isan upper arm socket member adapted to fit on the stump of the upper arm,and 2 is the forearm Inember hinged thereto, the hinge pin 3 preferablyextending from side to side of the joint. On this hinge pin is securedthe curved guides and over this guide passes a cord 5, one end of whichprojects out through a hole in the upper arm member as indicated, inFig. 3, a small guide sheave 6 being preferably provided to reduce thefriction and. give the cord a proper lead. The free end of the cord isconnected with any suitable harness, not shown, such as is common inartificial members of the same general type..' The other end, of thecord after passing around the guide 4E is secured 4 is a perspectiveview of parts Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2, 1920. Serial No. 285,313.

a short slot 9 so that the arm has a limited movement longitudinally ofthe forearm member. By a pull on the cord 5, the forearm member may beswung on the hinge pin 3. To lock the forearm member against theextension after being flexed, I provide an arc-shaped rack 10 concentricwith the hinge pin 3 and preferably formed on the aforesaid curved guide4-. With this rack thereenga'ges a dog 11 preferably rigidly connectedwith the operating arm 7 so that when the arm is drawn up by the cord,the first movement of the arm disengages the dog. The spring 12,engaging the dog and the aforesaid member, tends to yieldingly maintainthe dog in engagement with the rack. All these parts are substantiallylike those shown in my aforesaid Patent No. 1,272,006 and as thereexplained, it is evident that as long as a slight pull is maintained onthe cord, the dog will be out of engagement with the rack and the armthus left free to swing in either direction. The instant, however,tension on the 1 cord is released the dog will engage the rackand holdthe forearm member bent on the upper arm member to any desired extent. AI

To the aforesaid hinge pin 3 I secure, preferably on the exterior of thearm, a crank arm 20 which is connected by a rod 22 with a similar crankarm 24-, the latter being connected to a rock shaft 26 so that the arm24' and the shaft 26 move together. The construction is such that whenthe forearm 2 is moved on the hinge pin 3 the connecting rod 22simultaneously moves the crank arm 24.- to rock the shaft 26. To theother end of the rock shaft 26 is secured an operating arm 80 projectingthrough a slot 32 in a plate 34 connected to the end of the forearm. Tothe wrist member 36 is connected a similar plate 38, the latter havingan opening 10 .into which projects the open ating arm 30 before.referred to. The plate 38 is also provided with a stem 42 which entersan opening. 4A in the forearm member, the latter being provided with aset screw or other holding device 46 which is adapted to enter a groove18 in the end of the stem 42. These parts are so constructed that whenthe: wrist member is attached tothe arm member, the set screw permitsthe wrist member to receive rotary movement with respect to the forearmmember 2 and such r0- tary movement is accomplished by the movementhereinbefore described of the crank arms 20, 2- connecting arm 22 andthe operating arm 30 in a manner which will be readily understood fromthe drawings. As indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the wrist member 36 hasconnected to it a hand member 50 by means of a pivotal pin 52 whichpermits the hand member 50 to move on the wrist member 36. The handmember 50 is preferably formed hollow and has connected to it a fingersection and a thumb. The finger section 5% is preferably all in onepiece and is pivotally supported by the hand member on the pivotal pin56. The thumb, designated by the numeral 58, is supported by the handmember on the pivotal pin 60. As illustratedin Fig. 2, the fingersection is connected by a link 62, preferably located on the inside ofthe hollow hand member, with a pivotal pin 64 on the wrist member 36,while the thumb 58 is connected by a similar link 66 with a pivotal pin68 also on the wrist member 36; these links 62 and 66 crossing eachother, as illustrated, a spring 7 0 being employed preferably connectingthe link 62 with the pivotal pin 68. Ihe construction of these parts issuch, see Fig. 2, as will cause the spring 70 to draw on the link 62 andpull the finger section toward the thumb section. However, when the handmember is moved with respect to the wrist member, on the pivotal pin 52,the links 62 and 66 are so moved with respect to the finger section 54:,the thumb 58 and the wrist portion 36 that the fingers are moved awayfrom each other against the tension of the spring70.

Should it be desirable to have the fingers so that they will be normallyheld open, instead of normally closed as in Fig. 2, it is merelynecessary to shift the link 62 to the opposite side of the fingersection and to connect the spring as illustrated in the modificationshown in Fig, 5.

In order to move the hand section 50 with respect to the wrist section36, on the pivotal pin 52, I provide a cord, designated 72, one end ofwhich is connected to a hook or other device 74 on the hand member andthe other end of which is connected to the usual harness attachment atthe shoulder. It follows from this construction that when the arm ismoved so as to draw on the cord 72 that the hand section is moved witrespect to the wrist section, and this moves the links against thetension of the spring 70, thereby causing relative movements of thefingers and the thumb, opening the same when made according to Fig. 2,or closing the same when made according to Fig. 5.

From the foregoing and the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that Ihave produced avery simple form of hand and arm and that the parts areso simple that in the hand itself there are only four main partsthe handportion, the wrist portion, the finger section and the thumb, which areconnected together by the two links 66, 64 and the spring 70. i

It will be obvious that modifications and changes may be made in theform and construction of my invention without departing from the spiritthereof, the scope of which may be determined from' the appended claims.

hat I claim as my invention is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a wristmember, a hand member pivoted to said wrist member, a finger and a thumbeach pivoted to the hand member, and links pivotally connecting thefinger and the thumb with the wrist member, whereby as the hand memberis moved with respect to the wrist member, the finger and thumb will berelatively moved.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination ofa wristmember, a hollow hand member pivoted to said wrist member, a finger anda thumb each pivoted to the hand member, a link within the hand memberconnecting the finger to the wrist member, and a second link within thehand member connecting the thumb with the wrist member whereby as thehand member is moved with respect to the wrist member the finger andthumb will be relatively moved.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of a wristmember, a hollow hand member, a finger and a thumb each pivoted to thehand member, and links located within the hand member and crossing eachother, one of said links pivotally connecting the finger with the wristmember and the other link pivotally connecting the thumb with the wristmember, whereby as the hand member is moved with respect to the wristmember the finger and thumb will be relatively moved.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a wristmember, a hollow hand member, a finger and a thumb each pivoted to thehand member, links located within the hand member and crossing eachother, one of said links pivotally connecting the finger with the wristmember and the other link pivotally connecting the thumb with the wristmember, whereby as the hand member is moved with respect to the wristmember the finger and thumb will be relatively moved, and a spring forholding said finger and thumb in normal position.

5. In a device of the character described,

an upper arm. member, a forearm member pivoted to the upper arm member,awrist member connected with the forearm member so as to permit rotarymovement with respect thereto, a crank arm extending from the pivotconnecting the forearm member with the upper arm member, an operatingarm for moving the Wrist member With respect to the forearm member, acrank arm projecting therefrom, and a connection between said crankarms.

6. In a device of the character described, an upper arm member, aforearm member pivoted to the upper arm member, a Wrist member connectedWith the forearm member so as to permit rotary movement With respectthereto, a crank arm extending from the pivot connecting the forearmmember with the upper arm member, an operating arm for moving the Wristmember with r spect to the forearm member, a crank arm projectingtherefrom, and a connecting rod operatively connecting said crank arms.

7. In a device of the character described, an upper arm member, aforearm member pivoted to the upper arm member, a Wrist member connectedWith the forearm member so as to permit of rotary movement With respectthereto, said Wrist member having a plate with an opening therein, andthe forearm member having a disk adjacent to the wrist plate and havingan operating arm projecting therethrough into the opening in the disk ofthe Wrist member, a crank arm extending from the pivot connecting theforearm member with the upper arm member, and a connection between saidcrank arm and the aforesaid operating arm Whereby when the forearm ismoved With respect to the upper arm member, said crank and saidconnection move the said operating arm to rotate the Wrist member Withrespect to the forearm member.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LOUIS G. GABON.

